Freshman representative Ilhan Omar has been widely criticized for comments that allegedly promoted anti-Semitic tropes: one tweet last month about US-Israel policy being “all about the Benjamins,” and another comment about “allegiance to a foreign country.”
Omar apologized “unequivocally” for the Benjamins comment, she has apologized for saying, years ago, that Israel had “hypnotized the world,” but the “allegiance” comment led to a week of fighting within the Democratic coalition about whether this was anti-Semitism or legitimate criticism of the US-Israel relationship. Keli Goff joins the panel to discuss how this unfolded, leading to the House passing a resolution that said “imputations of dual loyalty threaten American democracy and have no place in American political discourse” and it also condemned a variety of bigotry including threats against Muslims. The resolution passed with the support of all Democrats (including Omar) and all but 24 Republicans.
Paul Manafort received his first of two sentences this week, and it was pretty far below federal sentencing guidelines. Rich Lowry and Liz Bruenig give their takes. Then, speaking of crime and punishment, R. Kelly and Michael Jackson were in the headlines this week. How should we consider their music given the news?
Finally, there’s a big vote on Brexit next week. Amanda Sloat of Brookings talks through the possible scenarios of Prime Minister May’s plan passing or failing (again), and a report that President Trump plans to charge countries where American troops are stationed “cost plus fifty” percent of the cost of having them there as a fee for defending the countries. Is this...even right?
